The Missouri Senate has given first-round approval to legislation that would expand the texting-while-driving ban to all motorists, not just those ages 21 or younger.

Although the bill passed, some senators opposed to the ban attached two amendments that have nothing to do with texting-while-driving, in an effort to kill the bill. But both were vehicle-related, so supporters changed the bill's title to include various topics related to motor vehicles.

A state representative has announced plans to introduce a bill to increase penalties for human trafficking convictions in Missouri.

Democratic Rep. Jason Kander said the measure he plans to introduce this week would boost Missouri penalties for human trafficking to the same level as federal statutes. He said federal penalties for human trafficking range from fines to five years and up to life in prison. Most Missouri human trafficking penalties go up to 15 years in prison.

New Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich plans to rate the entities he audits on a scale of excellent to poor.

Schweich said Friday his grading scale is intended to provide an evaluation that's easy to understand both for the general public and the agency being audited. He hopes the new system will provide some context about the severity of problems that get pointed out in audits.

The best rating will be excellent, followed by good, fair and poor.

He plans to start using the rating scale for audits released in February.

Missouri lawmakers are considering two different options for enticing people to pay overdue taxes.

A tax amnesty proposal presented Thursday to a House committee by Republican Rep. Tom Flanigan, of Carthage, would waive all interest and penalties for delinquent taxpayers who pay up between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Almost three years have passed since Charles "Cookie" Thornton attacked the Kirkwood City Council in one of the deadliest assaults on a government body in modern American history.

In a two-minute fusillade on the evening of Feb. 7, 2008, the high school track star turned charismatic community leader turned town pariah murdered five city officials before he was killed. A sixth official, Mayor Mike Swoboda, was critically injured and died several months later.

Rossie Judd of Fenton, Mo. has filed an Americans with Disabilities Act complaint against the policy, saying in her complaint that it denies her "meaningful access to the House of Representatives" as a result.

Governor Jay Nixon is calling for cuts to higher education, fewer state jobs, and holding public school funding at its current level in his proposed state budget for next year. But he kept his State of the State Address upbeat while acknowledging that Missouri is still in a financial hole. St. Louis Public Radio’s Marshall Griffin reports.

Tonight Mo. Gov. Jay Nixon gave his annual speech to the Missouri General Assembly - the State of the State address.

We'll have a full report from our statehouse reporter Marshall Griffin tomorrow during Morning Edition, but here are the highlights of tonight's event and corresponding issues, along with key points from the Republican response given by Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.

The Republican-led Senate passed a resolution Wednesday asking the Democratic attorney general to either file his own lawsuit, join a suit by other attorneys general or join a suit filed by Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.